


If I'm allowed

by Limonium



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Gen, I Don't Even Know, Mystery, i always make vague stuff im sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-23
Updated: 2017-06-23
Packaged: 2018-11-17 22:53:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11278452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Limonium/pseuds/Limonium
Summary: Levi went into the forest to look for supper, but when he thought that there was no one watching...





	If I'm allowed

**Author's Note:**

> //sweats nervously//
> 
>  
> 
> Thank you so much for looking this over, [Basty!](https://asouthernplaylist.wordpress.com) I'm sorry I bug you even when you're at work!  
> This was written for Day 2: Overcast of Eren & Levi Spring Weekend 2017 but I had exams...

“You shouldn’t take those without permission,”

Levi stops reaching for another piece of fruit freely hanging from the branches. His heart thumps wildly in his chest, a quiet gasp coming out from his parted lips, eyes resolutely staring at the tree trunk in front of him. He’s fighting the urge to turn around. Better not to show his face so he wouldn’t be recognized. Even if he’s out of the moonlight’s reach beneath the canopy of leaves, and it’s dark in the deep recesses of the forest, he wouldn’t chance it. He holds on to the measly amount of his supposed to be supper currently tucked on his other arm, the resounding ache of hunger inevitably overpowered by his fear of being caught red handed.

He tries to calm down, counting from one to ten in his head as he quickly runs his brain as to what to do to get himself out of the situation. Apologize? If he doesn’t end up cursing it might work. He doesn’t trust his mouth though because all it wants right now is to gulp down a good amount of fruit. What about lying? Bad idea. He totally looks like a thief. His ragged clothing is already a giveaway. Also, he doesn’t know who he’s dealing with here. Definitely way down the list. Flee? It’s palpable. But since he’s way up on the tree, he might just injure himself with the kind of state he’s in. His short stature and bony limbs are practically screaming starvation.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to play out. And the plan was simple. It was just climb, take and go back to hiding. He had thoroughly checked the surroundings before climbing up; he didn’t want to be trapped in the tree if a wild animal like a boar, or a wolf would be loitering around. He was so sure the area was deserted. In fact the ground was so overrun with shrubs and wild plants and tall grass that it didn’t seem plausible for someone to be caring for the apple trees.

Levi’s blood thrums as he cautiously gazes down from where he was perched on the tree. The tree casts a shadow below, and he had just fucked up his first evasion because he could make out a figure and he actually feels rather than sees that watchful eye on him. A breeze comes by and the moonlight filters through the leaves, his eyes adjusting their focus and the features presented to him was not what he had imagined from the tone of voice. There he sees a boy—scrawny with shaggy hair—who he deems is a lot younger than himself. The boy was wearing a plain cloth shirt and trousers. Despite the bright moon blaring its muted brightness, Levi couldn’t make out whatever color it was. The boy was also bare-footed.

His eyes slowly shift from the boy’s clothes towards his face. Quite opposite as to not figuring out the color of his curiously neat attire, much to Levi’s surprise, he can say the boy’s eyes are unusually green and shiny. Its reflection eerily resembling that of creatures awake and very much seeing in the dark. The boy takes a step forward.

“That’s quite a number you got,” he says.

Levi grimaces inwardly. He had taken too long to respond. He isn’t panicking but he is rooted in his spot, legs frozen stiff from fear and shock. He’s way deep into the forest. Not a single soul was supposed to find him. He didn’t even hear someone approaching. That’s why he was here. He was supposed to be far from trouble. He doesn’t want to be brought to the town chief, and he doesn’t want to be thrown behind bars then be dragged back down below.

He decides to lower his head instead, his mouth not able to form words just yet. He tries to look away in shame, but instead finds his gaze locked onto the person below him. Levi’s pretty sure he hasn’t blinked yet, and the boy hasn’t faltered from watching him. He doesn’t like it, when another person watches you like a hawk. Levi thinks it’s unsettling. What’s more is that he cannot read the boy, the gaze was just that— _another person looking at you_. So he thinks.

 

Honesty.

 

Honesty can never be wrong.

Levi tries to find his voice, he clears his throat.

“I’m sorry. I-I was hungry,” he says.

 

He curls his free hand into a fist.

Closes his eyes.

 

Patience.

 

Levi waits for an outburst, some reprimanding and insults. The usual reaction. Expects being dragged back to town and be locked up in one of the dungeons, and he prepares himself.

 

One, two, three.

 

He waits. He counts in his head. If he’d get beaten up he wouldn’t go down without a fight. But, thinking about defending himself in his state… he feels a slight pang in his stomach.

 

Four, five, six.

 

It was all stifling silence. Like an invisible cloak covering him up. Like that breath inhaled before releasing an arrow, then its travel, careening, forward and onward and then plunging on its target. The suspended space where an arc slices through the air, just before the sword meets another, where the clang of iron is anticipated, ringing.

 

Seven, eight, nine.

 

Levi’s fingers dug crescents into his palm the longer it was.

 

Ten.

 

He slowly and carefully climbed down the tree, three pieces of the ripe fruit cradled in his arm, and he tries his best not to lose sight of the boy. Darkness was another obstacle right now. Many nights it protected him and enveloped him to safety but in this case it’s quite the opposite. He might get hit and he wouldn’t see. He didn’t have the advantage of distance unlike in the streets. The familiarity of his surroundings is non-existent; he doesn’t know this forest like the back of his hand.

 

 

Nothing happened.

 

Politeness.

 

He carefully, reluctantly presented the apples to the boy to return them.

 

His nervousness grows steadily when he notices that the boy was a foot taller than him and his body was not thin at all, but lean muscles, limbs tan and long. Levi’s sure that even if they throw punches at the same time he’d get hit first. He cannot even rely on speed anymore when his last proper meal was a _fortnight_ ago.

He still pushes forward, aiming to hand over the fruits and just be done with it, and as he gets closer that yes, those eyes are really green and unnaturally luminous.

 

Shame.

Guilt.

 

Forgiveness.

 

“I’m sorry. _Please._ If it’s alright, I’ll just return them, then I’ll be on my way. ” Levi nods to his outstretched hands. Suddenly, Levi’s stomach makes a small gurgling noise. The boy tilts his head slightly, examining him, and he feels ashamed and stupid and embarrassed at the same time. He should’ve just stolen some from the bakery earlier since the owner was already drunk that afternoon. _Why the fuck did he even come here?_

“Then you should just ask permission—,”the boy surprisingly steps forward, and Levi doesn’t move an inch, as he felt icy fingers nudging his offering back to him, “—because you wouldn’t want _them_ mad.”

The contact gives Levi a cold shiver, prickling on the back of his neck and crawling onto his arms. His fear comes back full force, his breath catching on his throat.

“You already picked them, and you are _hungry_ , you just need to ask permission,” the boy said.

 

Ah, yes he keeps repeating that, Levi thinks.

So he does that. Ask permission.

 

_Can I please have some apples?_

 

He couldn’t speak. Only his mind did.

_I’m sorry._ He apologizes again.

And again.

 

He couldn’t speak.

 

 

There was something—in the dark—moving, changing—

It seemed like even the forest waited for him to _ask_.

To respond, to make a sound.

 

 

There was a shift—a thing about the boy’s firm gaze and Levi doesn’t doubt—even if he’s frozen up from fear—he knows that the boy’s eyes are now gleaming gold, not green but _gold_. The way the sun rises from the east, coats the world in yellows and ochre, the early morning mist adding to its dazzle. The way late night fireflies shine, moving and leaving fading trails, flying over a lake.

Levi tries to get his lips to mouth the words but then the boy smiles, all white teeth which sends through him an unnerving chill—

 

 

Fear was… tolerable.

 

Here, he’s dreading.

He closes his eyes, firmly.

 

_He’s scared._

 

Like a realization hits you, quickly, in a flash that you’ve been caught—and it’s quaint because he was literally caught stealing—like a trap was set, and you have no way out. No escaping, no next step, no doors, supposedly, but—

But then—those porcelain-cold fingers are gone.

_Gone._

 

It was abrupt—it just, _vanished_. Like that. Levi feels dizzy, reeling and he realizes that he has been holding his breath.

When he opens his eyes, warily, the boy was gone and when he looks around he was at the outside edge of the forest. The apples cradled on his arms seemed bigger than it was, and he strangely feels like he had just escaped something, something enormous and daunting, but he couldn’t pinpoint. He stood there, a drop of sweat caressing down from his forehead down to his chin, and with trembling hands he took one apple and bit into it, swallowing his much awaited meal under the full moon above.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Kudos, comments and feedback are loved!


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